My
alarm woke me up with a fright at 4am but got up and ready for the tour to the
geysers. I sat in the common area for a while enjoying the warmth (gets rather
chilly after dark here) and after a while I made my way outside to stand with
the other people waiting for the tours. Slowly but surely they were all picked
up and after about 45min I was waiting alone and the thoughts that something
had gone wrong returned (up until now it's never been a problem). After waiting
another 20min or so I decided to go back inside and wait there (by this stage I
was pretty sure there was a mix up and I had been left behind).
I sat inside and booked some accommodation in
Potosà and Sucre just leaving me busses and some accommodation for Bolivia to
sort out. At 7am I decided that it was time to get some more sleep so returned
to my bed.
I
had a good second sleep for an hour or so before getting up and doing some
washing and making my way to get a refund for the tour and book a star gazing
tour. Money is tight as it's my last night in Chile so don't want to draw any
more cash so may end up being an interesting day. The refund proved to be a bit
of a mission as they only want to refund me this evening which makes the money
even tighter as I have enough to buy lunch unless I get the refund. Making my
point in limited Spanish is also proving to be difficult. Eventually I came
right and got the refund and returned to the hostel to pack as much as I can
before starting my busy day.
I
took a walk into town in the afternoon and grabbed a massive empanada for later
and a completo italiano (hotdog with tomato salsa, guacamole and mayo - looks
like Italian flag) for lunch which I took to the square and sat under a tree to
enjoy it before making my way to the tour agency to go swim in some salty lakes
(at least if I'm there they can't leave me behind).
The
drive to laguna escondido was about 1.5 hours so caught up on some sleep. The
drive was through a plain with lots of salt and mountains on either side. When
we arrived we jumped out and walk across some salt crystals to the first pool
and then along the salt past another few pools before we hit the last and
biggest one. Here is where I had my first dip and what a strange feeling. The
water has about 25% more salt than the sea and you can taste it! Swimming feels
completely absurd and if you try to stand half my chest was out the water
without me touching the ground. It really was an amazing experience. I then
made my way back to the van where I had a swim (and first drink) in one of the
smaller less crowded pools.
On
walking between the first and second pools I was dried by the wind and I felt
my boardies which were hard with salt like they had been starched and my body
had tiny salt crystals all over. After 2 hours of swimming and enjoying the
scenery and salt we made our way back to San Pedro stopping off for the sunset
overlooking the salt mountains where I quickly changed out of my salty boardies
into clean clothes and had some pisco sours.
From
here we went back to San Pedro where I met Layla (from Salta) in the street and
had a quick catch up before going to buy some wine and change pesos into
bolivianos before meeting up for the astrology tour.
While
waiting to leave I met Sophie (from UK) who was the only other English speaker.
Once the group was together we got in the van and took a 15 min drive out of
town to a platform with a telescope in it. Our guide showed us a few
constellations and explained their significance in historical times. We then
had a look at a few areas with the telescope with my favorite being Jupiter where
we could see the planet and a few of its moons. After a hot cup of tea (which
was needed in the cold) we jumped back in the van and headed back into San Pedro.
We walked back to our hostels where Sophie and I
said goodbye. At my hostel I had missed the bbq but everyone was still sitting
around chatting so I made my way in and had a quick shower (still can't get the
temp right) to get all the salt off me before joining the conversation and
having some more pisco. Eventually I decided to call it quits at 2 so I could
get up in a few hours to go on my tour to Uyuni...